A current trend in business is an increased appreciation of the importance of the appearance of presentation materials (i.e., reports, proposals, and brochures). While it has long been recognized in the fields of advertising and sales that the appearance of such materials may be seen to reflect on the quality of the subject matter contained in those materials, the ever increasing amount of competing information in business has lead other professions to place increased emphasis on the appearance of presentation materials to call special attention to their work. Much of this trend may be linked to the increasing availability of computers for compiling information and for formatting information according to standards previously requiring specialized publishing equipment. In fact, presentation materials including neatly organized text and graphics are now commonplace in most businesses.
However, computer generated materials are usually in the form of individual sheets that must be collected and joined together to form a completed work. It is also known to further improve the appearance of such work by binding the work in a folder. Although it is now possible to print quality text and graphics with widely available computer systems at virtually no additional cost over the time required to format the information, professional appearing folders often add a considerable incremental cost to the work that cannot be justified on a routine basis. The incremental cost of the folder is based not only on the cost of the folder itself but also on the cost of binding materials together in the folder. Alternatively, cheaply made folders or even certain generic types of folders may actually detract from the professional appearance of a work.
For example, it is known to bind loose sheets together in a folder using a clear plastic front sheet, a cardboard back sheet, and a plastic binding clip that fastens the sheets together along their length. Although this binding approach involves only limited expense, the appearance of such folders is nondistinctive and not of a professional quality equal to the quality of the text and graphics that is routinely available. It would also be prohibitively expensive to print on such plastic front covers to enhance their professional appearance.
Another common approach uses a folded paper to form front and back covers of a folder, and a folded binding strip that is stapled to the folder along their common fold line. Loose-leaf materials are secured between the folds of the binding strip by tabs attached to one of the folds which pass through specially spaced holes in both the loose-leaf materials and the other fold of the binding strip. The staples are clearly visible and unattractive on the outside of the folder, and the tabs are similarly unattractive inside the folder. Also, an additional step of punching specially spaced holes in the loose-leaf materials is required which takes additional time for assembling the folder.
Accordingly, it may now be appreciated that a need exists for an inexpensive, yet versatile and professionally appearing folder for binding together loose-leaf presentation materials. More particularly, the folder (a) should be of sufficient quality to enhance the appearance of materials produced by computerized printing techniques, (b) should readily admit of customizing features such as professional printing on the face of the folder, and (c) should be sufficiently inexpensive to make and use on a routine basis.